Almost 50 per cent more marriages took place in the first three months of this year than in the same period 10 years ago, but births outside marriage are on the increase, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The population has grown by 11.5 per cent since 1996, but the population of an age most likely to marry has increased at a much greater rate, with those in 25-29 age bracket up 27 per cent and the population of those aged 30-34 up 23 per cent.
However, these factors alone cannot explain the massive increase in the number of marriages, according to CSO statistician Joseph Keating.
"There has been an increase in the marriageable population, but not to the extent where you'd expect a 47 per cent increase. It's outside anything that can be explained by the population statistics."
Although the figures have not yet been fully collated by the CSO, the number of second marriages is a likely contributor.
"Since the introduction of divorce legislation in 1997 people can now marry for a second time.
"We're going to be studying what effect that's had on marriages in the next few months but we already know that the number of civil marriages quadrupled between 1996 and 2002," Mr Keating said.
Of the 15,334 births in the first quarter of the year, 5,147 or more than one third (33.6 per cent) were outside marriage.
In the same period in 1996, just under a quarter of all births were to unmarried mothers.
The percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers increased steadily over the 10-year period, with the biggest jump between 1996 and 1997 when there was an increase of 3.6 per cent.
Limerick city had the highest percentage of babies born to unmarried mothers, with more than half (52.3 per cent) of all births in the first quarter of the year taking place outside marriage.
Cork city had the next highest, with 51.2 per cent of births outside marriage, followed by Waterford city at 49.4 per cent and Dublin city at 48.1 per cent.
Overall, rural areas had far fewer births outside marriage. In Roscommon just 20 per cent of births were to unmarried mothers in the first quarter of the year.
In Co Galway the rate was 22.5 per cent, Mayo registered 24.2 per cent and Leitrim had 24.7 per cent.
Births in general for the first quarter of the year are up 20 per cent on the same period 10 years ago, while deaths are down by a similar percentage.
Of the 15,334 babies born in the first three months of the year, there were 7,986 boys and 7,348 girls. In the first three months of 1996, some 12,749 babies were born.
While a greater number of babies are being born, the percentage of deaths is on the decrease. Some 7,352 people died in the first quarter of this year, 3,661 men and 3,691 women.
In the same period in 1996 some 9,248 people died, a difference of 20.5 per cent.
Heart and circulatory diseases caused almost 40 per cent of deaths in the first quarter of the year, cancers caused 28 per cent of deaths, respiratory diseases 17 per cent, injuries (including road deaths) and poisoning 2 per cent and other causes 16 per cent.
